Nagash the Unbroken [Mass Market Paperback]

Mike Lee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 30, 2010

The powerful sorcerer Nasgash is defeated, but begins to rebuild his strength in the Mountains of Cripple peak. There he builds an alliance with Skaven, and plans his revenge.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Together with Dan Abnett, Mike Lee wrote the five-volume Malus Darkblade series. He also wrote the acclaimed Nagash the Sorcerer for Warhammer Time of Legends. Mike was the principal creator and developer for White Wolf Game Studio's Demon: The fallen, and he has contributed to almost two dozen role-playing games and supplements over the years. An avid wargamer and devoted fan of pulp adventure, Mike lives in the United States.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Games Workshop; Original edition (March 30, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1844167917
• ISBN-13: 978-1844167913
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #386,260 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Necromancers Rule!, May 16, 2010

By 

Veil_Lord - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Nagash the Unbroken (Mass Market Paperback)

(What's this?)

You are Nagash, sorcerer, warlord, master of the dead. Absolute control was within your grasp, but just look at you. The only survivor of your army, presumed dead by all, you wander the wastelands. Oh how the mighty have fallen. Where once you exuded power to make mere mortals tremble, now you are as dried as old leather, your left arm held uselessly to your body one of many reminders of your defeat. You travel by night. Even at your peak you could not survive the sunlight, your armies fought under a magical darkness. That power is lost to you. A pity you think as you find yourself in the open, no caves to hide in, nowhere to run, morning just minutes away. Suddenly the pack of hunters pursuing you comes up from behind. Four rat creatures only vaguely resembling a man fall upon you. You'll make a fine meal. The leader comes to your prone body turning you over...

So begins Nagash The Unbroken. It's a story of being on the top and then thrust to the very bottom. Nagash finds a new source of magic and begins to rebuild his base of power. It's not just your usual episode of a cartoon where the bad guy runs back to his base to rebuild; this is a guy who's barely surviving but still focused on coming back stronger than ever. On several occasions, he is in very real danger of being defeated before he even gets started. The story itself feels very realistic, given of course that this is a world of monsters and sorcery.

The book also tells the story of a king and queen searching for immortality using one of the last remnants of Nagash's minions. I was pleasantly surprised to find myself just as interested with their situation as Nagash. You have inside and outside power struggles, betrayal, murder, all the good stuff for a book like this. Because the inner strife is about recreating an elixir of immortality, things can play out over an extended period of many decades and even centuries. The only problem I had with this is that nobody seems to find it odd that some of the royal court are living several hundred years while barely aging. People do eventually start to notice, but it takes so long it strains credibility.

I must admit to a fondness for Necromancers. That was my favorite class to use in Diablo 2, so any book featuring one gets a few extra bonus points from me. I've always found it compelling how they're able to create their own band of warriors without having to rely on the uncertain loyalties of mortal men. Soldiers who are unrelenting, single minded, and cannot feel fear. Equally interesting is how Necromancers lose their humanity and their power corrupts and devours them from within. I liked reading about that in Nagash, how his body was forever changed by the powers he yielded. The only other book I've read in this series is Empire, which dedicated almost a third of the book to defeating a Necromancer. Nagash The Unbroken was a fun read. After this, I may have to go back and read the first Nagash book.

I do wonder if some of the book wasn't cut at the very last minute to go into the next one. The tease on the back of the book mentions Nagash's alliance with the Skaven (ratmen), which never occurs. Also, you can tell this is book two of three because the story doesn't really have an ending. It's like reading this review which just...

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nagash Trilogy, Book 2, July 28, 2010

By 

Detra Fitch "Always hunting good books." (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nagash the Unbroken (Mass Market Paperback)

Many hope, pray, or believe that Nagash the Usurper, Undying King of fallen Khemi, perished with his undead army. The remaining immortals were hunted down, a feat that took decades, and eliminated. Only one remains, Arkhan the Black. As the Usurper's army fell, Lamashizzar smuggled the books of Nagash from the Black Pyramid outside Khemri. Now Lamashizzar, Priest King of Lahmia, City of the Dawn, seeks the power that Nagash once held. With Arkhan nearby, locked immobile within his own flesh and bone, Lamashizzar studies Nagash's tomes. Yet Arkhan knows that once he reveals all Nagash's secrets, he will be destroyed.

Queen Neferata realizes that Lamashizzar cares for nothing more than his studies. The care and protection of Lahmia falls to her. Therefore, without her husband's knowledge, Neferata strikes a bargain with Arkhan. The immortal gives the queen secret tutelage of the necromantic arts. Soon she can deal with Lamashizzar, care for her people, and eventually make Lahmia the undisputed center of power in all of Nehekhara.

Unfortunately for Nehekhara, Nagash still lives. Nagash retreats to the mountains where he slowly rebuilds his strength and finds new allies in many of the barbarians and the skaven (mutant ratmen that dwell beneath the earth). In his new lair of Cripple Peak, Nagash discovers warpstone, which gives the necromancer more power than ever before. Once Nagash unlocks all the secrets of warpstone, he will be unstoppable.

**** FOUR STARS! The blurb on the back of the book speaks only of Nagash and the skaven. This is extremely misleading. Less than half of this book follows Nagash. As for the skaven, they are hardly seen or mentioned. The main focus this time is on Queen Neferata. My main problem with the story is the large gaps in time. More than once I turned the page to find that fifty years or more had passed. This caused me to somewhat flounder as I tried to figure out if anything vital had changed. I believe these sections could have been handled better. Yet overall, this story is intriguing. The epilogue, which begins after another huge time gap, gives a minor sneak peak as to how the third book will begin. I look forward to reading more about the beginning of the vampires. ****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Nagash has survived but a new threat comes to Khemri, June 1, 2010

By 

Jacob "RavenLoc" (Virgina, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nagash the Unbroken (Mass Market Paperback)

The Time of Legends series brings the second book of Nagash in Nagash the Unbroken. Lhamia has been hearled as the saviors of the lands by changing sides at the moment when all seemed to be assured for Nagash and total victory. Instead the King alongside his famous dragon legions betray him and seize the day forthemselves. As part of the spoils of war he secrectly takes the books of Nagash for himself and Arkhan the Black as his prisoner. Meanwhile the Queen of Lhami has been ruling in the king's stead while away on his mission to stop Nagahs. She soon realized her husband has forsaken any dignity and custom and begins his dark journey into the very books that caused the pact with the gods to shatter. Meanwhile Nagash has survied. He has weaken and lost much of his power. His body a runiened mess battling the sun and his own demons in those who he has killed to become a king. But Nagash has a purpose and a will. He senses a strange power from a mountain top. A power that calls him to reach its peak and claim it. Back in Lahima the King as called for a time of rejoice and to renew ties with its other kingdoms. The Queen tries in vain to tell him that he needs to by sly like thier father was in dealing with the now ravaged kingdoms. For the are the city in which all trade comes from, but he does not listen and she soon comes to understand he is weak. But the King puts her in her place and sends her to her own prison in the palace itself. The Queen comes to the fact that she must take control of the kingdom. She allys herself with the immortal Arkham the Black so that he may teach her the ways of power. While Nagash has found a new source of power and a new race. The skaven and warpstone. Nagash realizes that the warpstone infuse him with power and can regain what he lost with a new army and a new drive. To return to Kehmri and conquer its lands and the rest of the world. Will the old world be ready for a new onslaught of the dead from two sides? Can Nagash truly never die? And what of the Queen of Lahmia? Will she become like Nagash or something far more sinsiter?